SMAGL People

SMAGL Principal Investigators

By now, you’ve probably already spoken to at least one of the two Principal Investigators (PI) in the SMAGL: Dr. Eva C. Garrett and Dr. Christopher A. Schmitt.

If you need them, you can contact and learn more about the SMAGL PIs in the following ways:

    Prof. Eva C. Garrett (she/her)
    Office: Stone Science Building, 675 Commonwealth Ave, Room 247C
    Phone: (617) 353-7709
    Email:
    Webpage: http://www.ecgarrett.com
    SocialMedia: @Shmevapithecus

    Prof. Christopher A. Schmitt. (he/they)
    Office: Stone Science Building 675 Commonwealth Ave, Room 247E
    Phone: (617) 353-5026
    Email:
    Webpage: http://www.evopropinquitous.net
    SocialMedia: @fuzzyatelin

SMAGL Students and Personnel

SMAGL Lab Coordinator

The SMAGL Laboratory Coordinator and Lab Safety Coordinator is Samantha Kelley. Sam is the Lab Coordinator for all the labs associated with the Department of Anthropology, and can help with any safety or equipment concerns in the lab, the ordering of necessary supplies and many other day-to-day lab tasks.

She can be reached via phone (617-353-5521), email () or in her office (STO 241).

Postdoctoral Research Associates

Dr. Evelyn L. Pain is currently a Postdoctoral Associate Teaching Scholar in the Department of Biology affiliated with the Schmitt Lab, and Reserach Coordinator for the conservation NGO Yunkawasi Perú. Her focus is on our primate projects in Perú, inclusing with yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Lagothrix flavicauda) and Andean night monkeys (Aotus miconax). Dr. Pain’s current office space is in BRB 511.


Dr. Amy M. Scott is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Project and Knott Lab who will also be conducting research in the SMAGL. She’s currently working on extracting DNA from archived urine samples from wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). Dr. Scott’s current office space is in STO 250.


When PRAs are working with the lab, please keep in mind that they are professional scientists with extensive field and lab experience, who have already earned a Ph.D., and who already run research programs of their own in addition to the research they conduct in the SMAGL. We ask that you respect the authority of our PRAs as strongly as you respect that of Prof. Garrett or Prof. Schmitt.

Graduate Students

The SMAGL also trains graduate students at both the Master’s and Doctoral level. During your time in the SMAGL, one of the more senior graduate students may be assigned to be your immediate mentor.

Current graduate students you may meet include:

Doctoral Students

Soumalya Ghorui (Ph.D. program, Biological Anthropology; Schmitt Lab; he/him). Soumalya began in the Anthropology Ph.D. program in 2024. His research will focus on foraging behavior and diet as adaptations to the energetic constraints of high elevation living in wild Himalayan langurs (Semnopithecus schistaceus) with the Himalayan Langur Project. His office is in the Biological Anthropology Graduate Student Space (STO 247).

Jimmy Erkens (Ph.D. program, Biological Anthropology; Schmitt Lab; he/they). Jimmy began in the Anthropology Ph.D. program in 2023. His research will focus on bioinformatics-based investigations of genetic drift and selection in relation to immune function in wild savanna monkeys (Chlorocebus spp.). His office is in the Biological Anthropology Graduate Student Space (STO 247).

Nicole Merullo (Ph.D. Program, Biological Anthropology; Hodges-Simeon and Schmitt Labs; she/her). Nicole began in the Anthropology Ph.D. program in 2023, in the Hodges-Simeon Lab. Her research will focus on the evolutionary biology of blood pressure phenotypes in humans, focsed on a population in Utila, Honduras. Her office is in the Biological Anthropology Graduate Student Space (STO 247).

Jess Martin (Ph.D. Program, Biological Anthropology; Schmitt Lab; she/her). Jess began in the Anthropology Ph.D. program in 2022. Her research focuses on dietary effects on the microbiome of wild vervet monkeys (Chlroocebus pygerythrus pygerythrus) across urban, farm, and Nature Reserve populations in South Africa. Her office is in the Biological Anthropology Graduate Student Space (STO 247).

Zoe Albert (Ph.D. Program, Biological Anthropology, Knott and Schmitt Labs; she/her). Zoe began in the Anthropology Ph.D. program in 2021, in the Knott Lab. Her research focuses on dietary and environmental effects on the microbiome of wild Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) in Gunung Palung National park, Indonesia. Her office is in the Biological Anthropology Graduate Student Space (STO 247).

Warrenkevin Henderson (Ph.D. Program, Biological Anthropology; Garrett and Schmitt Labs; he/him). Warrenkevin began in the Anthropology Ph.D. program in 2021, in the Garrett Lab. His research focuses on convergence related to cold adaptation in nasal morphology and associated genomic regions in ursids, phocids, equuids, and hominids. His office is in the SMAGL Dry Lab (STO 251).

Mel Zarate (Ph.D. Program, Biological Anthropology; Schmitt Lab; she/her). Mel began in the Anthropology Ph.D. program in 2020, after having completed her MS in Biology in the Schmitt Lab. His research focuses on high-elevation adaptations and conservation genetics in wild yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Lagothrix flavicauda). Her office is in the Biological Anthropology Graduate Student Space (STO 247).

Masters Students

Carla Rojas (MS program, Biology – EBE; she/her). Carla began in the Biology M.S. program in 2024, joining us from Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, where she studied wild mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata aequatorialis). She plans to work on diet in yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Lagothrix flavicauda).

Yinuo Mao (MS program, Biology – CMB; she/her). Yinuo began in the Biology M.S. program in 2024, joining us from UC Davis after some time in industry work. She will be conducting research into selection in wild savanna monkeys (Chlorocebus spp.) using our genomics pipeline.

Sofia Weaver (BA/MS program, Biology – EBE; she/her). Sofia joined the Schmitt Lab as an undergraduate, and joined the B.A./M.S. program in Biology in 2024. Sofia’s research in the lab has been wide-ranging, but her M.S. thesis work will focus on high-elevation adaptation in lowland Peruvian woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha tschudii).

Undergraduate Students

There are also several undergraduate students currently working in the SMAGL. These include, for the Spring 2025 semester:

Garrett Lab Undergrads


Alex Pissios (Anthropology, Specialization in Biological Anthropology)


Schmitt Lab Undergrads


Reese Hotten-Somers (Anthropology, Specialization in Biological Anthropology; she/they)



Noam Aviv (Biology, Specialization in Behavioral Biology; he/him)



Merilyn Amponsah-Asamoah (Anthropology, Specialization in Anthropology, Health, and Medicine; she/her)


Shaotai (Max) Hu (Data Science, Minor in Statistical Methods; he/him)



Chloe Leaman (Biology; she/her)



Claire Zhang (Anthropology, Specialization in Biological Anthropology; she/her)



Bailey Christian (provisional; Anthropology, Specialization in Anthropology, Health, and Medicine; they/them)


Matteo Finnerty (provisional; Biology; he/him)



Cian Dowling (provisional; Biology; he/him)